I just learned that this is known as the "Clearmountain pause" after legendary engineer/producer/mixer Bob Clearmountain's technique of inserting a dramatic pause in a recording. Look at his credits and you'll find tons of songs with Clearmountain pauses in them.

Jake wrote:I just learned that this is known as the "Clearmountain pause" after legendary engineer/producer/mixer Bob Clearmountain's technique of inserting a dramatic pause in a recording. Look at his credits and you'll find tons of songs with Clearmountain pauses in them.

Everything But the Girl "Little Hitlers". It's not really a pause, more of a crescendo with strings where everything suddenly drops away leaving only piano and tasteful rhythm section, but for a mili-second it feels like all sound has been sucked out of the ether.